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God opens churches' doors to new culture

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 - 3:20 PM CST

Namaste. Tapaai~ Angrezi bolnu hunccha?

It's not all that uncommon for an Assemblies of God church
to have a visitor who was born outside of the United States. It's a bit more
uncommon if that visitor came from a Hindu or Buddhist background. And it's
fairly uncommon for that same visitor to be from the Nepal/Bhutan region of the
world, but perhaps not unheard of.

Still, when a non-English-speaking Hindu visitor shows up
with nearly 220 of his Hindu and Buddhist Nepalese/Bhutanese family and friends
- nearly half who have never even heard of Jesus - on Christmas Day at an
AG church that runs 100 (on a good day) . . . , well, that's a God thing!

Dawes

And knowing the phrase, "Good morning. Do you speak
English?" in Nepalese, could come in pretty handy for anyone found in that
rare situation - like AG Pastor Chris Dawes did this Christmas.

One might imagine that with such an influx of Nepali refugees
from Bhutan that Dawes' church is likely located on a coast - East, West, even
Southeast. But North Dakota? That's more on the "coast" of Canada
than anywhere else.

Dawes, who pastors Valley Christian Center, in Grand Forks,
North Dakota, admits that he doesn't know what God is up to, only that He's up
to something!

He explains that his church - and the community for the most
part - has historically been overwhelmingly white. But recently God has been
doing something totally "unexpected" in his small church.

Dawes said last year, he had heard some talk about refugees
from the Nepal/Bhutan region of the world being in the Grand Forks area, but
the information was sketchy. And really, with a church that runs between 60 and
100 on any given Sunday, there didn't seem to be a way for Valley Christian
Center to make any kind of significant impact on first generation immigrants
who likely didn't even speak English.

Then, six days before Christmas, Dawes received the most
unexpected of calls.

"Pastor Deepak, who leads this growing group of
Christians, called me out of the blue and asked me if our church would be
willing to host a Christmas Day outreach meal for maybe 100 Christian and an
additional 100 or so non-believing Nepalese and Bhutanese," Dawes recalls.
"The refugees had been meeting in apartments and some were meeting at a
local church, but they needed a place to meet where being openly Pentecostal
was not going to be a cause for concern. I told them they were welcome to come
and use our facilities."

On Christmas Day, a sea of nearly 220 new faces arrived at
Valley Christian Center for a special service and meal. Deepak later told Dawes
that 130 of the guests were non-believers made up of Hindus and Buddhists,
indicating many of them had never before heard the gospel message.

Deepak who had been with the Nepalese American church in
Georgia under Pastor Silas, had recently come to Grand Forks to pastor this
group of believers and was the speaker for this event. A former refugee and
Buddhist from Nepal, Deepak had accepted Christ and was later healed from the
effects of a debilitating stroke when a Pentecostal evangelist prayed for him
while he was living in a refugee camp in Nepal.

Pastor Deepak

"Fifteen Hindus and Buddhists gave their lives to the
Lord that day, with many more wanting to learn more about Jesus," Dawes
says. "I just really feel this was prophetic in that this happened on
Christmas Day - it was like the Lord handed us a gift on
a silver platter. God entrusted to us the commission to reach out and touch
these precious people with the love of Jesus."

Since that Christmas Day, the Nepalese believers and their
guests have started meeting regularly at Valley Christian Center. Every week
more people are accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Dawes says he felt the Lord has told him that his church's
responsibility is to help this first generation of Pentecostal believers to
feel "at home" at Valley Christian Center. The church is doing its
best to do just that. Dawes is studying the Nepalese culture and language in an
effort to help bridge the communities into one community. And for every step
they take, Dawes observes, it seems Deepak and his church takes two towards
them in return.

Of course, with the influx of new faces and cultures come
other opportunities and challenges.

One of the greatest opportunities, Dawes says, is that his
youth group of three kids now suddenly has 33 youth - with more Nepali youth
coming each week. Many of these new students are still working on their
conversational English, which provides an excellent opportunity for the church
to speak into their lives.

"A lot of the kids also want to learn how to play
guitar so they can be part of leading praise and worship wherever they
are," Dawes says. "We've been doing our best to round up guitars, and
so far we've gotten eight of them into the hands of kids and I've been teaching
them how to play, with more kids on the waiting list for a guitar."

However, Dawes has come to realize that there are also
challenges. Many of the Nepalese have only arrived in America and made a
decision for Christ within the last year or so, and the pitfalls of Satan
surround them.

"These new Christians that have only recently arrived
in this country do not always realize that 'all that glitters is not gold,' and
that some elements of American culture are both unbiblical and spiritually
deadly," Dawes says. "My
desire is to share the timeless truths of the gospel with them in a way that is
culturally relevant and help them effectively assimilate into the American
culture while maintaining their Christianity."

For Dawes and Valley Christian Center it's a time of wonder
and amazement as they witness God working in ways they never imagined in their
church. Although at first blush it appears this is a singular work by God,
Dawes quickly corrects that impression.

"There's a group of Nepali believers in Fargo who,
thanks to the generosity and wide open arms of Pastor Kevin Zaun and Heartland
Community Church (AG), now have a home as well.

"We're averaging about 40 a week in the Nepalese
service," Zaun says. "We've been holding services about six or eight
weeks now and people are getting saved, miracles are happening!"

However, Zaun and his church are not new to working with
different cultures. For several years, they've been working with African
refugees and helping to start All Nations AG in Fargo that is home to Africans
from at least 12 different African countries.

And recently, Dawes and Zaun have learned there are more
Nepalese Christians in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where Calvary Assembly and
Pastor Dan Kuno have now opened their doors to this group of new believers. And
Deepak recently shared that each of the three AG churches - Grand Forks, Fargo
and Sioux Falls - would see an increase of at least 50 from the Nepali
communities in those cities if additional transportation could be provided.

Dawes and Zaun say they both feel an urgency to reach these
first generation Americans for Christ. But Zaun adds that it's not just those
from Nepal where God is working.

"There are a lot of new Americans from a lot of
different cultures and countries coming to America who are being impacted by
the presence of God," Zaun says. "They are, in many ways, the future
of our country and we need to embrace them, disciple them, invite them into our
church culture and involve them."

"I feel God is definitely moving," Dawes says.
"I don't know where this is all going to go, but I know right now, we're
supposed to work, because night is coming, and we must welcome them and reach
them now with the love and gospel message of Jesus Christ."

For more information about Valley Christian Center, see its website. To learn
more about Heartland Community Church, click here.